If you describe a plan or idea as utopian, you are criticizing it because it is unrealistic and shows a belief that things can be improved much more than is possible.
[disapproval]
He was pursuing a utopian dream of world prosperity.
A complete absence of national border controls is utopian.
Synonyms: perfect, ideal, romantic, dream More Synonyms of Utopian
A utopian is someone with utopian ideas.
Kennedy had no patience with dreamers or liberal utopians.
2. adjective [usually ADJECTIVE noun]
Utopian is used to describe political or religious philosophies which claim that it is possible to build a new and perfect society in which everyone is happy.
[formal]
His was a utopian vision of nature in its purest form.
A utopian is someone with utopian beliefs.
...a group of utopians who immigrated in the 1920s and '30s.
More Synonyms of Utopian
Utopian in British English
(juːˈtəʊpɪən) sometimes not capital
adjective
1.
of or relating to a perfect or ideal existence
Also: utopistic
noun
2.
an idealistic social reformer
Also: utopist
Derived forms
Utopianism (Uˈtopianˌism)
noun
Utopian in American English
(juˈtoʊpiən)
adjective
1.
of or like Utopia
2. [oftenu-]
a.
having the nature of, or inclined to draw up schemes for, a utopia; idealistic; visionary
b.
founded upon ideas envisioning perfection in social and political organization
a utopian community
noun
3.
an inhabitant of Utopia
4. [oftenu-]
a person who believes in a utopia, esp. of a social or political nature; visionary
Word origin
ModL Utopianus
Examples of 'Utopian' in a sentence
Utopian
Some will have utopian dreams about what can be done with that money.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Gone were the utopian dreams of the thirties.
Kovel, Joel Red Hunting in the Promised Land: Anticommunism and the Making of America (1994)
They somehow convinced themselves that their particular utopian dreams were what Scotland could become.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Justice is utopian and unrealistic.
Christianity Today (2000)
A general, happy mediocrity was almost the utopian ideal.
Brian Thompson DEVASTATING EDEN: The Search for Utopia in America (2004)
The Prime Minister ought to drop the utopian dreaming and get on with finding practical solutions to the real social problems our country faces.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
In other languages
utopian
British English: utopian ADJECTIVE
If you describe a plan or idea as utopian, you are criticizing it because it is unrealistic and shows a belief that things can be improved much more than is possible.
He was pursuing a utopian dream of world prosperity.
American English: utopian
Brazilian Portuguese: utópico
Chinese: 不切合实际的
European Spanish: utópico
French: utopique
German: utopisch
Italian: utopistico
Japanese: 夢想的な
Korean: 비현실적인
European Portuguese: utópico
Latin American Spanish: utópico
(adjective)
He was pursuing a utopian dream of world prosperity.
Synonyms
perfect
ideal
Their ideal society collapsed around them in revolution.
romantic
He has a romantic view of rural society.
dream
a dream holiday in Jamaica
fantasy
imaginary
Lots of children have imaginary friends.
visionary
the visionary worlds created by fantasy writers
airy
`launch aid', an airy euphemism for more state handouts
idealistic
She was somewhat idealistic about the pleasures of motherhood.
fanciful
fanciful ideas about Martian life
impractical
He's full of wacky, weird and impractical ideas.
illusory
chimerical
(noun)
Kennedy had no patience with dreamers or liberal utopians.
Synonyms
dreamer
I was a dreamer, a romancer.
visionary
Visionaries see the world not as it is but as it could be.
idealist
He is not such an idealist that he cannot see the problems.
Don Quixote
romanticist
Additional synonyms
in the sense of airy
Definition
having little basis in reality
`launch aid', an airy euphemism for more state handouts
Synonyms
insubstantial,
imaginary,
visionary,
flimsy,
fanciful,
ethereal,
immaterial,
illusory,
wispy,
weightless,
incorporeal,
vaporous
in the sense of chimerical
Definition
wildly fanciful or imaginary
Synonyms
fanciful,
wild,
fantastic,
fabulous,
vain,
imaginary,
visionary,
unreal,
unfounded,
illusory,
quixotic,
hallucinatory,
illusive,
delusive
in the sense of dream
Definition
beautiful or pleasing
a dream holiday in Jamaica
Synonyms
fantasy,
perfect,
ideal
Nearby words of
utopian
utilize
utmost
utopia
utopian
utter
utterance
utterly
Synonyms of 'utopian'
utopian
Explore 'utopian' in the dictionary
Additional synonyms
in the sense of fanciful
Definition
guided by unrestrained imagination
fanciful ideas about Martian life
Synonyms
unreal,
wild,
ideal,
romantic,
fantastic,
curious,
fabulous,
imaginative,
imaginary,
poetic,
extravagant,
visionary,
fairy-tale,
mythical,
whimsical,
capricious,
chimerical
in the sense of ideal
Definition
of, involving, or existing only as an idea
Their ideal society collapsed around them in revolution.
Synonyms
imaginary,
impractical,
Utopian,
romantic,
fantastic,
fabulous,
poetic,
visionary,
fairy-tale,
mythical,
unreal,
fanciful,
unattainable,
ivory-towered,
imagal
in the sense of idealist
He is not such an idealist that he cannot see the problems.
Synonyms
romantic,
visionary,
dreamer,
Utopian
in the sense of idealistic
She was somewhat idealistic about the pleasures of motherhood.
Synonyms
perfectionist,
romantic,
optimistic,
visionary,
Utopian,
quixotic,
impracticable,
starry-eyed
in the sense of imaginary
Definition
existing only in the imagination
Lots of children have imaginary friends.
Synonyms
fictional,
made-up,
invented,
supposed,
imagined,
assumed,
ideal,
fancied,
legendary,
visionary,
shadowy,
unreal,
hypothetical,
fanciful,
fictitious,
mythological,
illusory,
nonexistent,
dreamlike,
hallucinatory,
illusive,
chimerical,
unsubstantial,
phantasmal,
suppositious,
imagal
in the sense of impractical
He's full of wacky, weird and impractical ideas.
Synonyms
idealistic,
wild,
out there (slang),
romantic,
unrealistic,
visionary,
unbusinesslike,
starry-eyed
in the sense of romantic
Definition
idealistic but impractical
He has a romantic view of rural society.
Synonyms
idealistic,
unrealistic,
visionary,
high-flown,
impractical,
dreamy,
utopian,
whimsical,
quixotic,
starry-eyed
in the sense of visionary
Definition
of or like visions
the visionary worlds created by fantasy writers
Synonyms
imaginary,
fantastic,
unreal,
fanciful,
ideal,
idealized,
illusory,
imaginal,
chimerical,
delusory
in the sense of visionary
Definition
a visionary person
Visionaries see the world not as it is but as it could be.